Adrian J. Iorio and his book plates

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EXLLIBRIS UNIVEKITY OF CALIFORNIA?

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JOHN HENRY NASH LIBRARY

^ SAN FRANCISCO <e>

PRESENTED TO THE

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA

ROBERT GORDON SPROUL, PRESIDENT.

Mr.andMrs.MILTON S.RAV
CECILY, VIRGINIAandROSALYN RAY

AND THE

RAY OIL BURNEROOMPANY

SAN FRANCISCO
NEW YORK

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2007 with funding from

IVIicrosoft Corporation

http://www.archive.org/details/adrianjioriohisbOOioririch

ADRIAN J . lORiP JJTl^^-'

[he pictorial cx-Iibris, as a rule, reveals,
or is intended to reveal, the beautiful
in book-plates* How much nicer it
is to affix a handsome label by some
good artist to our books than to add
a poor armorial or unsightly name la-
bel. Every day, perhaps, if we all look at our
treasures that often, one might open the leaves
of some book, and meet this example of the ar-
tist's best thoughts, a forerunner of the treats in
store in the volume.

Many people decry the pictorial plate and
think a name label or some other monstrosity
should be used as being more digniiicdf so they
express it, but it is in the nature of most men
to beautify all that comes within their reach, or
at least attempt it, and what more fitting than
a pretty plate setting forth the ownership of a
volume in some beautiful manner ?
A great many of the pictorial plates are alle-

gorical, which is xstgcd against them, but they
may be bookish too; there is no end to the pos-
sibilities of this style, but there is a limit to the
label or armorial and this is quickly arrived at*

A number of times I have heard the remark
made, in fact it has been addressed to me in con-
nection with some one of my plates. What has
this or that plate to do with books ? Perhaps
it may have been some plate on which there are
no books scattered in disorderly array on a ta-
ble so that if they were not drawn there they
would fall off, but it is not necessary to have the
foreground filled with books, nor to have some
one reading a book; a great many artists think
that in order to make a book-plate they must
have some sort of a figure reading a book; that
is all right, but it is not essential, in fact, the read-
ing figure has become very threadbare* Al-
though I like a plate that is bookish as well as
any other, yet I feel that the book-plate, being
essentially a personal mark, should be allowed
to depict the tastes, thoughts or pursuits of the
owner in whatsoever form his fancy may dictate*

If one would spare the time to look over the
work of several book-plate artists, it will be
found that about all those who keep to the picto-
rial style, work in black and white, and any re-
marks that apply to one might do equally well

for most of the others* However, there are ex-
ceptions to most rules, and Mr, Adrian J* lorio
is the exception to this; his work showing a per-
fection in the pictorial style, combining beauty
and gracefulness with strength of treatment in
a manner that is seldom met with*

Many plates, even some made by prominent
artists, while they may be artistic and correctly
drawn, still fail to hold one's attention owing to
a weakness in not bringing out the central feat-
ure of the desi^iif or, perhaps, having no central
feature, at least that can be discovered*

First and foremost a book-plate design should
have a story to tell, and tell that story well, as,
if we are to depart from the label, pure and sim-
ple, the result is bound to be more or less a pic-
ture* Now a picture is well enough in itself, but
to make that picture answer to the requirements
of a book-plate it must needs be something that
we can connect with the owner's thoughts of his
books in which the plate is to be placed. And
here we have, I think, a good excuse for a book-
man owning several plates* A book-plate that
seems to be wholly musical really does not fit in
a book on fiction or war, so some of the more
fortunate have a number of personal plates,
made with the express purpose of being placed
in a certain class of books, while others, made

more general in their scope, carrying a decided
bookish flavor, or an armorial nicely worked tip
would be applicable to almost anything in the
way of bookL

Mr Jorio has recognized the principle mention-
ed above and has sought to carry it out as far as
possible* The plates to his credit are few in num-
ber but exceedingly beautiful in design, skilfully
handled, and good types of what a decorative la-
bel or pictorial plate should be*

The plate for Arthur B* Harlow was the first
Mr» lorio made under his own name, and is the
mark of a bookman who is interested in philos-
ophy. The first plate of the writer is a beauti-
ful piece of decoration. Nearly everyone re-
members, though perhaps vaguely, the great in-
terest and awe awakened in one's childish mind
by armored knights, dashing chargers and the
like, and it was with this in view that the plate
was designed to go in my collection of chiloren's
books, fairy tales, and so on. My second plate
is freer in its treatment, but still very decorative,
a seated figure with book on knee, communing
with nature. Juliet Marguerite Washburn has
a plate of which she may well be proud. It is one
of the handsomest and most appropriate I have
yet seen. It depicts a female figure resting against
a book standing upright, with pen in one hand

and scroll in the other, at one side a harp, all of
which denote the owner's pursuits. William Ar-
thur Peabody has an armorial design very dec-
orative in its treatment. The design used for a
printing mark by The Charles E. Peabody Co.
was also intended to be used as a book-plate, a
copy being shown herewith. It shows a griffin
standing upon two books, with a quill grasped
in its paws, and on the open page of a book the
name, as also the motto, ''Lux e Litteris."

Mr. lorio's own plate is one of the most beau-
tiful of all that he has made, and it looks as if
he had tried to make for himself a design that
would be a shining example of what he can do,
although each succeeding plate from his hand
shows an improvement over the previous ones.
His plate has a full length figure of a knight in
armor, resting on a shield, on which are placed
the insignia of the artist, and suggestions of a
love for music, with the hill of wisdom at the
back. The whole is on a sheet that is drawn to
represent a piece of ancient paper, worm eaten
and torn; a novel and pleasing mode of express-
ing the antiquity of the book-plate.

In addition to the above, there are three other
plates by Mr.Iorio that should not be passed over
without some mention. That for the Troutsdale
Press, printed in colors, is designed as a simple

decoration, bearing a heraldic lion, used as the
sign of the Press, and the Universal Book-plate,
made for a book publishing concern, has as a ba-
sis a conventionalized rose tree* The other, for
Ada Marie I vers, shows a female figure in Co-
lonial dress, engaged in a task dear to all fem-
inine hearts, the trimming of head gear, while
at her feet lies her black cat, "Wahb* A conven-
tionalized orange tree, at the left, completes a
plate, which, although quite decorative, is also
a good example of simplicity, in which it differs
from his other more elaborate plates*

Mr* lorio was long a pupil of Will H* Bradley,
in fact he was with him from the beginning of
the Wayside Press until Mr. Bradley severecf his
connection with it, working under his direction
at Springfield, Mittineague, and at Cambridge,
when the Wayside Press was incorporated with
the University Press* After Mr* Bradley left the
Press, Mr* lorio carried on the work of the Way-
side Department until some time in J900, when
he decided to open an office of his own.

While with Mr* Bradley, and at the Univer-
sity Press, his work of necessity was fashioned
after Mr* Bradley's as closely as possible, but on
emerging from the Press his own individuality
and originality soon evinced themselves, and he
now shows a style distinctively his own, though

perhaps relying more or less on the old German
expressions*

Mr* lorio's work in book covers, catalogues,
and the other forms of higher commercial work,
is very well and favorably known, and it gives
me pleasure to bring to the attention of book-
plate collectors the excellence and variety of his
book-plate work*

EX<-LIBMS

AROTHUR,
BROOlCr
HARLOW

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